It wasn’t long after Michigan’s football season was over that the Harbaugh to NFL rumors began to surface again. At the center of much rumor was the Denver Broncos, a team desperate to hit the jackpot with rumors of $20 million in annual salary offers. Harbaugh reportedly met with Broncos executives for a brief Zoom meeting, but never took up an offer to do a longer in-person interview. On January 16, Michigan President Santa Ono announced that Harbaugh had recommitted to remaining in Michigan and would not seek an NFL position.
With Harbaugh out, much of the attention in Denver was on former New Orleans Saints head coach Sean Payton. Reports earlier this week suggested Payton was becoming increasingly unlikely to travel to Denver. Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn was a finalist for the head coaching position at Denver last season before the team eventually settled on Nathaniel Hackett. Quinn spoke to Denver again this offseason but has opted to remain in Dallas. San Francisco defensive coordinator DeMeco Ryans was considered a new favorite among Broncos insiders, but it now seems like he’s likely to accept the head coaching position at the Houston Texans.
After all of the Bronco’s top options fell through, two Broncos insiders, Will Petersen and Troy Renck, report that Denver has taken another swipe at the Michigan head coach.
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It’s no surprise that Harbaugh is once again turning down the Broncos. As our Josh Henschke reported throughout the saga, Harbaugh would likely stay in Michigan, and it wasn’t as easy as “he’ll leave if offered” as some reports suggested. While it’s clear some conversations need to be had between leaders in Michigan, Harbaugh has been a man of his word since his days leading the Wolverines, and he’s made it clear privately and publicly that his heart was still with Ann Arbor.
That’s a very different perception than last season, when Harbaugh flew in for an interview with the Minnesota Vikings and some suggested he was returning to Michigan solely because he hadn’t received an NFL offer. Now, if those reports are true, not only has Harbaugh turned down an NFL team to stay at his alma mater, he’s done so twice in one offseason.
What’s next for the Denver Broncos is unclear. One possibility, Renck suggests, is Harbaugh’s former coordinator, David Shaw. Shaw took over Stanford in 2011 when Harbaugh left to coach the San Francisco 49ers. Shaw stepped down from coaching Stanford this offseason and has been interviewing with the Broncos.
What’s next for Jim Harbaugh is his 9th season as head coach of the Michigan Wolverines. Harbaugh comes from back-to-back seasons in which Michigan defeated Ohio State, won the Big Ten championship and appeared in the college football playoffs. With arguably their best roster to date, the Wolverines are expected to be a top-five team last season, the favorites set to win the Big Ten again and be a National Championship contender again in 2023.
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